


Well it goes like this

by Cheesecloth



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, F/M, International Fanworks Day 2020, Leslie's obsessed with Ben's butt, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22742749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheesecloth/pseuds/Cheesecloth
Summary: It was tough, hiding their secret relationship. All Leslie wanted to do was shout to the world just how cute Ben’s butt was!
Relationships: Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Well it goes like this

It was tough, hiding their secret relationship. All Leslie wanted to do was shout to the world just how cute Ben’s butt was!

Similien, the sea otter dæmon agreed, though not about the butt thing.

He’d been as wary as Leslie when they first met Ben, the budget slasher, and his unreadable snow owl dæmon Aesina. Her dull golden eyes always _looked_ sleepy but she was deceptively alert. She looked very soft though. Leslie heard once how insanely soft owl feathers are. Probably even softer than Simmy’s fur…

It’s commonly agreed upon not to judge people based on the settled form of their dæmons, but everyone did it. Pawnee was as guilty of it as the rest of the world. So what?

What would they possibly ascertain from Leslie and her constantly fluffy, adorable otter dæmon? That she was extremely cute and adorable? Oh no, you got it all in one...drat...that’s just _too bad,_ isn’t it?

She is, by the way. Super cute and adorable. She thinks so. And everyone in the department has admitted to it at least once, at Leslie’s uncompromising demand.

Similien huffed in exasperation at where Leslie’s thoughts were taking her. They can’t read each other’s thoughts, of course. But there is no one that can read her better than her dæmon. His fluffy chubby cheeks pudged out a bit into a pout.

When Ben and Aesina first barged into Leslie’s life, trailing behind Chris Traeger and his excitable canary dæmon, Leslie was so sure he was bad news.

It wasn’t until Aesina sat plushly by Similien during meetings and made faces where no one else could see them at the city council’s antics that Leslie and Simmy warmed up to them.

“Leslie, I will not remain here in this room for much longer,” Ron complained gruffly. His badger dæmon was quietly grumbling her way around Simmy in agitation. But the otter didn’t budge. He, like Leslie, is very used to Ron’s antics.

“Right! Of course! Alright Parks department, I hope you will read the seventy-page binders I gave you by tomorrow morning! We’ve got a hell of a lot to do to prove to Ben and Chris that our department doesn’t need a cut in our current budget!”

“That’s a lot of words, and that binder’s really thick. Can’t we just have a multi-media conglomerate party instead?” Tom’s chameleon dæmon chimed in, and Tom nodded sagely in agreement, pointing at his chameleon like she had a point. He lifted his cashmere-clad arm so that his chameleon could make hip-and-fresh poses to the rest of the parks department to punctuate their…frustration? Whatever, it was distracting the group from focusing on their assignment. 

“Can’t we just stop having parks? Then they wouldn’t have to cut anything. We could go home,” April said.

“I second that,” Ron pipes up, and Leslie rolls her eyes.

“Come on guys! We have a presentation tomorrow for ideas 6, 72, and 498!”

Just then, Aesina pops her cute snow owl face from the doorway. “I hope you don’t have individual binders for all the other 495 ideas,” she says good-naturedly. Ben walks after her, followed by Chris.

“Actually,” Similien stops grooming his fuzzy face and hops just a little closer to Aesina. “There’s over 685.”

Ben and Chris balk at the ridiculously high number. The rest of the Parks staff don’t even flinch. They’ve known Leslie for years. They’re also secretly agreeing on simultaneously not doing any of the reading. Ann’s miniature pig dæmon, which is _super_ cute, just like Ann, is slowly inching towards any exit he can find and making aborting gestures to the other dæmons while Leslie is distracted by Ben.

Ben shakes his head, unable to shake off the shock. “I hope you aren’t actually making binders for all 685 ideas, Leslie. The Parks department just doesn’t have that kind of money, especially when you’re trying to find funding for all those ideas...”

Leslie grins. “I actually pay for all the binders myself! I frequent a local Pawnee supply store called Food and Stuff-“

“I love Food and Stuff,” Ron smiles subtly behind his mustache.

“And they hired a guy who has his own office there, just so he can supply binders for all my organized needs!”

“Good god,” Ben blinks incredulously. “You really buy enough binders for a local shop to hire someone just to _sell you binders_?”

Leslie shrugs. “It’s a passion of mine.”

“And we’ve got a lot of passions!” Similien chirps. Leslie leans down to him and they do a mini high-five.

Aesina makes a soft, fond noise.

Similien hops close to her, and whispers into her feathers, “One of her passions is Ben’s butt.”

Aesina screeched with surprised laughter, and she whispered back, “And you? Do you have any passions like that?”

The sea otter rubbed a paw over his face, embarrassed. “I do. You.”

Aesina’s wings tussled and fluttered. Ben and Leslie couldn’t hear them, but they flushed and looked away.

Taking advantage of Leslie’s distraction, Ron, April, Donna, Tom, and Ann made their way to the door in a hurry. Donna’s chinchilla dæmon paused at the door, blocking Ann just in time for Leslie to spot her.

“Ann! Where are you going?”

“Um-uh- gonna get a head start on reading my binder,” she smiled. “Love you!”

“Love you too, Ann, you beautiful summer pumpkin!” Leslie cheered. Ann glanced at Jerry, who hadn’t gotten the secret memo to flee. Her dæmon snorted softly, nudging Jerry’s jerboa until he finally got a clue.

“Oh! Ann Perkins!” Chris grinned with his mega-watt smile. “I’ll join you! Those binders are of excellent quality- Leslie, where did you- ah!” Ann dragged Chris with her out the door before he could turn around. After all, Leslie and Ben had just used that moment to stand closer and stare all lovey-dovey at each other.

Jerry took one look at his watch and smiled. “Oh look at the time! I’ve got paperwork to file, I’m so excited, it’s my favorite part of the job!” And he gestured at his dæmon, who was just about to get lost again, to follow him out of the room.

“You two are not in the least bit subtle,” Aesina groans at Leslie and Ben.

“Us?” Leslie laughs, kissing Ben on the cheek swiftly before putting her hands on her hips. “You two were flirting while Chris was still here!”

“We were talking about how much you like Ben’s butt.” Similien nuzzled against her pantsuit. She smiled fondly at him before processing what he said.

“Damn right I do.”

“O-okay, okay,” Ben tried to interject, far too late. “Alright, what is it about my butt?” He turned a little so his butt was facing the other three in the room.

Leslie bit her lip and stared unsubtly.

“Oh my god Leslie,” Aesina shrieked and flew to Ben’s arm, which held out automatically after almost a lifetime of habit. “Ben, t’hy’la, it’d probably be best if you turned back around. Can’t have Chris walking in on Leslie-bear ogling your butt.”

“Leslie-bear?” Leslie’s voice shook with emotion. “I love your pet names for us Aesina, you’re so sweet and adorable and kind and-“

Similien pawed at her leg. “Leslieeee,” he whined. “You’re doing it again.”

“It’s okay,” Ben smiled with Leslie’s favorite of his dorky expressions. “I like that about Leslie. Like Similien said, lots of passions.”

“I’ll show you passions,” Leslie kissed Ben properly this time. They both couldn’t help smiling into it.

Simmy scoffed. “She’s touching his butt again, I think,” he murmured covertly to the snow owl.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy International Fanworks Day 2020 !!! ! !
> 
> It's my 50th fanfic uploaded to Ao3! I'm halfway to my dream goal!
> 
> I have a few headcanons on what the Park's Department dæmons would be:  
> (I didn't find names for all of them)
> 
> Leslie has Similien, the Sea Otter
> 
> Ben has Aesina, the Snow Owl
> 
> Ron has his Badger
> 
> Tom has his Chameleon
> 
> April has her Poison Dart Frog
> 
> Andy has his Wombat
> 
> Donna has her Chinchilla
> 
> Jerry has his Jerboa
> 
> Chris has his Canary
> 
> and Ann has her Miniature Pig
> 
> <3


End file.
